Last night I was talking with a friend and was wondering out loud, “What do people consider sin anymore?”
Slander? No
It’s just considered tv)
Fornication? No
(Just normal to live together now)
Homosexuality? No
(It’s progression and don’t judge.)
Malice? No
(Again, just tv news and political stuff)
Unforgiveness? No
(Is that a sin?)
Idolatry-Making God to be who we want? No
(I believe what I believe)
Blasphemy – Using the Lord’s name in vain? No
(Everyone says OMG–it’s not meant as an insult)
I’m not talking about the people of the world but the people in God’s kingdom. The only sin in the vast majority I see is for someone to say any of these is a sin is a “sin.” Again, I’m not talking about people outside the church but rather within.
And yet the acknowledgment of sin was and is the essential first step in coming to Jesus and staying connected to Him.
6 The Lord spoke to Moses: 2 “When someone sins and offends the Lord by deceiving his neighbor in regard to a deposit, a security,or a robbery; or defrauds his neighbor; 3 or finds something lost and lies about it; or swears falsely about any of the sinful things a person may do— 4 once he has sinned and acknowledged his guilt—he must return what he stole or defrauded, or the deposit entrusted to him, or the lost item he found, 5 or anything else about which he swore falsely. He must make full restitution for it and add a fifth of its value to it. He is to pay it to its owner on the day he acknowledges his guilt. 6 Then he must bring his restitution offering to the Lord: an unblemished ram from the flock according to your assessment of its value as a restitution offering to the priest. 7 In this way the priest will make atonement on his behalf before the Lord, and he will be forgiven for anything he may have done to incur guilt.”
In the New Testament we see that the first step in the salvation process is to “repent” (Acts 2:38; 3:19; 8:22). To be able to repent once must acknowledge that what they’ve done is sin. There has to be a conviction of sin to repent and turn from it.
The gospel is the message of salvation from sin and death. The good news is that Jesus has paid the price of our sin not so that we can keep on sinning, but so we can be set free from sin.
But it first comes from acknowledging we are sinful.
